First Look: Cipher Complex

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Edge of Reality unveils new "hide and seek" title for PlayStation 3.

By Jeremy Dunham

Austin-based development studio Edge of Reality is picking 2007 as the year it makes its move. Founded in 1998 as a production house specializing in Nintendo 64 ports (Tony Hawk, Spider-Man), the team is leaving its focus on licensed properties behind (Shark Tale, Pitfall) in favor of new and original IPs. The team's first effort, a next-generation "hide and seek actioner" known as Cipher Complex, will be the company's first strike in an effort to establish itself as a developer to reckon with.

In production for more than two years already, Cipher Complex is taking an approach that longtime "infiltration" fans should appreciate -- it's focusing on environments and AI has a key element of the experience.

"We wanted to treat the environment like a character in and of itself," Creative Director Thomas Coles told IGN." In too many games, levels are just something that serves as background noise with a couple of notable points worth looking at before moving on to the next area. Forget that! We've been working on a lot of these levels for months apiece and we want to make sure that we make the most of them."

"With [the console version of] The Sims, we really learned a lot about what it means to make AI behave more human," continued Edge of Reality President, Binu Philip. "AI is very important to the user experience and with our understanding of that section of gameplay we want to make sure that experience is a strong one."

Speaking of gameplay, it's the mechanics that Edge of Reality focused on first before turning its attention towards the presentational things around it. "We're gamers first," Coles remarked. "We wanted to make the type of game that we'd want to play and really focus on what's important before doing anything else."

But what are some examples of what that gameplay is? The Reality guys aren't talking yet -- for fear of not being able to explain it properly before we can see it. That said, they did give us an interesting tidbit in relation to how AI would work in a typical situation.

- Official Concept Art"Our AI is contextually tuned to their specific environments," Philip explained. If you're trying to sneak around an area and shoot out a light, the enemies aren't going to just stand around doing nothing. One of them might think something is up and become more cautious and start looking around more actively. Another guy might call for help from a cohort, while another may just signal for a repairman to come along and fix the problem altogether."

Edge of Reality also wanted to note that team-based multiplayer was another factor that it considers important for the final game (the extent of which is still unknown), as was the inclusion of an engaging single-player storyline that kept people interested (the main plotter has worked on films such as Chronicles of Narnia and the Thin Red Line). Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the main narrative itself, other than the fact that it follows government operative John Cipher as he infiltrates Siberia in search of a downed reconnaissance satellite. In addition to Cipher, three other characters were revealed through storyboard art (two females, the blonde Coldwell and the mysterious Mishka, and a creepy-looking older gentleman by the name of Anakov).

Edge of Reality actually has a lot more planned for Cipher Complex than it's letting on -- including elements of vehicle play, limited character growth, and destructible "stuff." One element in particular, however, is what the team feels will be one of its most appreciated features: "We don't want to give away our hook just yet," explained Coles. "But we don't want to blow smoke and get everyone hyped for something with vague hints either. You'll see further down the line when we show it to you, some of the interesting things we can't talk about yet."

Scheduled for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007 (the team is already working on both versions on the systems' respective development kits), Cipher Complex certainly sounds like it could be a dark horse game to watch -- even if it didn't have Havok physics and all the next-gen visual effects that all the kids like to rave about (high dynamic range, realistic weather effects, etc)... which it does. We'll keep you posted on any developments as they unfold.